Moichi Kuwahara's office occupies a crumbing apartment building in Tokyo's Yutenji district. The warren of small rooms resembles an art squat -- packed full of editors, graphic designers, writers and other creative types who provide the artistic fodder for Club King, a company whose products, magazines, radio and television programs are perhaps best described as cultural goods.
Assistants scurry up and down the narrow stairs bringing copies of the various magazines, pictures and books that Kuwahara has produced to illustrate the whatever point he is trying to make. Casually manipulating the turntables, mixers and other audio equipment piled behind the ratty, but totally hip, table that serves as his desk, Kuwahara mixes a background track, DJing his way through the interview.
As Tokyo's foremost music selector, Kuwahara has provided soundtracks for everything from Comme des Garcons' fashion collections to beer commercials to a good portion of the daily programming at the hip radio station, Shibuya FM. It is too simple to call Kuwahara a producer; he is a subcultural nurturer, a cultivator of new styles, new art and new ideas.